1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to peripherals such as a printer, a scanner, a facsimile machine, and a copying machine controlled via a network, IEEE 1394, and other connection forms from an information processing apparatus, a peripheral control method, a peripheral control system, a memory medium in which a peripheral control program is stored, and the peripheral control program.
2. Related Background Art
When jobs are issued to a printer, scanner, facsimile machine, and copying machine connected via a network, and the like from a host computer (information processing apparatus), a plurality of documents are sometimes issued as one job. In this case, control of each document comprises setting the current value of the entire job, and the value is not clearly set, but is implicitly set in the job and each document.
Therefore, these information concerning the job and document are set or obtained only with the current value. Moreover, the properties of the job and document are not clarified in the set content, and are not distinguished.
However, the conventional peripheral has following problems in a processing of each document unit in the job.
(1) Various controls of a job scheduling unit (job execution priority, job execution cancellation, and the like) and each document unit cannot clearly be processed as separate units. Moreover, several documents in the job cannot clearly be constituted as a plurality of units in the job by binding the documents into a unit (binder).
(2) In a job processing, information such as the processing result of each document unit cannot be obtained. Moreover, information such as the processing result of the unit (binder) obtained by binding some documents cannot be obtained.
(3) In the job processing, while the job is being executed, new setting or changing cannot be performed on each document unit. Moreover, the setting or changing of the unit (binder) obtained by binding some documents cannot be performed.
(4) In a print job, media units such as paper to be outputted in one job and finishing units such as stapling cannot be processed as separate units. Moreover, in the print job, the job priority, job cancellation, or the like cannot be processed as the job unit, the stapling or the like cannot be processed as the unit (binder) obtained by binding some documents in the job, and further the paper media to be outputted cannot be processed as the document unit.
(5) In a scan job, the unit of controlling an original reader and the unit of controlling a scan image cannot be processed as separate units in one job. Moreover, in the scan job, the job priority, job cancellation, or the like cannot be processed as the job unit, the scan original control or the like cannot be processed as the unit (binder) obtained by binding some documents in the job, and further the scan reading control related with the image control cannot be processed as the document unit.